


And it's better off this way

by 19_empty_vacancies



Series: Ferb, I know what we're going to do today [1]
Category: Star Trek
Genre: Bones is Bucky, Captain America AU, I'm not as sorry as I should be, It kind of hurt writing this, Jim is Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 11:35:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6373150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/19_empty_vacancies/pseuds/19_empty_vacancies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of snapshots that follow the story of Captain America but with Kirk as Steve Rogers and Bones as Bucky Barnes because I needed a story like this in my life and when I couldn't find one, I wrote one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And it's better off this way

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this idea for about two weeks and after discovering ‘oh hey, there is nothing like this, what the fuck, why not? It’s so perfect’ I texted my friend about it (at 2am, because I am that kind of friend) and after sitting on the idea, completely debating it, planning it out, writing out ideas and character placements that I didn’t even end up going into specifics about, I decided to write me a lil sum’n sum’n.
> 
> Never listen to the Diva Dance (the amazingly emotional Opera song from The Fifth Element) on repeat while writing a fic. No matter how awesome the song is. It leads to distractions and different fic ideas and makes writing some of the things in this short chapter a bit more emotional.
> 
> That being said; totally listen to [it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3quVNwWlrw) while reading this because it makes things in this chapter a bit more emotional. 
> 
> Story title is from I Never Told You What I Did For A Living by My Chemical Romance and was so close to being "And we'll laugh again, we'll dance again."

“Are you always such an infant?”

The question was tinged with derision and faint worry all wrapped up in a warm Southern accent and kind of grated on Jim’s nerves. Bad enough the guy had found him in that situation, but to blatantly call him out on it? It was a blow to Jim’s pride.

“Do you understand how badly you could have been hurt? Good God man, if I hadn’t been walking by when I was you could have winded up with more than a bloody nose and swollen face.”

The last thing he needed in his life was someone else to pick on him and-

Wait. What?

What was he saying?

“Jesus, I haven’t seen this bad kind of a beating ever; I don’t know whether to be worried or impressed you’re still awake, kid. C’mon, I need to help you clean those wounds before they get dirt in them and then get infected which can lead to diseases and end with you dying.”

Jim blinked up at the guy standing in front of him in the dingy alley, completely confused and not sure what the fuck was going on.

“You’re helping me?”

Hazel eyes rolled so hard Jim worried they were going to fall outta the guy’s head. “Of course I’m helping you; I didn’t stop those jackasses from beating you up just for a damn infection to kill you. Now, are you gonna let me help you up so we can get to my father’s practice or what?”

Blinking in surprise, Jim nodded. “Yea-yeah, uh, okay. Thank you.”

The guy reached out his hand and Jim reached up to grab it and levered himself up out of the dirty alley water, stumbling slightly as he stood. Hands moved to steady him and Jim found himself leaning into them slightly. 

“So,” Jim said as he regained his center of gravity and stood straighter, “do I get to know the name of my knight in, oh god, what colour is that?” he couldn’t even begin to try and comprehend what the guy was wearing, the colours seemed to be pulsing.

Maybe, uh, maybe the colours he was seeing weren’t the colours the guy was wearing. It was quite possible that he’d sustained one too many blows to the head in that fight.

“Name’s McCoy, Leonard McCoy. And there ain’t nothing wrong with what I’m wearing; you, you damn idiot, have a concussion.”

…

The apartment was dark save for the single light in the corner and a couple candles burning on the table that separated the small kitchen from the equally small living room. They were down to the last of their money and so needed to save as much power as possible. God knows it was tight enough before the whole world had gone to hell but now, with the war, it was worse. 

It was a lot worse.

“They can’t do that!” 

“They can, and they have. I’m now officially a member of the 107th, I ship out next week.”

Jim watched as his best friend’s shoulders tightened and knew, he just knew that he didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to go out there. Sure, they needed men, shit, they needed doctors out there even worse, but Jim knew how much he didn’t want to go.

“Bones, no; you can’t, you can’t go.”

McCoy sighed deeply and leaned back against the sink of their kitchen. “I don’t exactly got a choice here, Jimmy. I have ta go, I was drafted. That’s the entire point.”

Swallowing thickly, Jim tried to string together all of the words he wanted to say, anything to get his friend to stay, to get him out of leaving him. “Bones-”

“Don’t.”

McCoy shook his head slowly and looked down, focused on the stain in the floor made from one of the multiple times Jim had spilled his paints in the past, focused his gaze anywhere but the watering surface of his best friend’s blue eyes. 

“Please, Jim, don’t.”

…

Six different attempts, six different fails and this one was beginning to shape up to be no different. It was all the same bullshit reasons to why he couldn’t enlist; his immune system, his crappy lungs, his plethora of allergies. Why couldn’t they see that he needed to be accepted? See that he needed to go so that his friend wasn’t going out there into hell alone?

Bones had dragged him out in an effort to cheer him up, to get him to smile. It was an odd display of roll reversal because usually it was he who wanted to go out; but lately he just wanted to stay in, soak up as much of Bones as he could before he had to leave, absorb as much of his friend’s presence as possible before he couldn’t any longer.

The Scott Expo was busy and thriving and bright and an absolutely fantastic place for his to slip away into the enlistment stall without Bones seeing him. But this time it didn’t seem like it was going to be the same as last time because the MP had slipped away.

Sitting on the exam table, Jim cast his eyes to the sign on the wall that read ‘It is illegal to falsify your enlistment form’ in all capital letters and swallowed before pushing himself off and reached to grab his coat. 

Before he could disappear from the room, another doctor slipped in and gave him the opportunity to do what he needed.

…

Once more they were standing in their tiny apartment across from each other only this situation was in stark relief from the last time. The most glaringly obvious change was the duffle bag by the door and the uniform his best friend was wearing. The sun was beginning to rise, the room was being bathed in a warm orange light and McCoy would need to leave soon to catch the bus out of Riverside.

This was it. 

He was really leaving.

“I’ll send home checks and I’ll write you every chance I get. Just, just be careful for me okay? Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

McCoy pushed away from the kitchen sink and crossed the distance of the living room to pull Jim to him and when he felt him bury his head in his shoulder, McCoy swallowed thickly and willed his tears away as he rested his chin on Jim’s head. The kid was shaking and he could feel his shirt getting damp and honestly? He didn’t want to leave even more, he never wanted to but damn it, the kid was making it harder for him to let go.

“Please, _please_ be safe, Bones.”

It was whispered and half of it was choked and muffled in his uniform but he got it all and just tightened his grip on his friend even more.

…

“James? Are you ready?”

Kind of a stupid question to ask what with all the needles in his skin and him being locked into a giant metal coffin with a port view he couldn’t even see out of but in his experience doctors tended to ask stupid questions from time to time. 

Shifting his shoulders slightly he breathed out and willed himself to relax. 

(It wasn’t working.)

“I guess it’s too late to use the bathroom huh?”

…

“Every bond you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy’s gun.”

…

“They’re 30 miles behind the lines through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe; we’d lose more men than we’d save. But I don’t expect you to understand that because _you’re_ a chorus girl.”

Jim looked at the Colonel and willed himself not to punch him in the face. “I think I understand just fine.”

“Well then understand it somewhere else; if I read the posters correctly you have somewhere to be in 30 minutes.”

The sound of the Colonel’s footsteps moving across the space away from him was almost completely drowned out by the rain as Jim focused on the map, memorizing the exact location of the enemy camp.

“Yes, sir, I do.”

…

“I thought you were dead.”

“I thought you were smaller.”

…

His heart had relocated into his throat and was doing its damnedest to choke him of air. Jesus, how the fuck is this happening? Jim leapt up and grabbed his shield, throwing it as hard as he could at the armored Romulus soldier hoping it caused him great amounts of pain before he turned to grab at the railing, climbing out onto the piece of severed train wall.

“Bones! Bones grab my hand.”

He reached out and watched as McCoy moved closer and reached out to grab his hand, they were so close. 

_Come on, come on._

The railing broke and pulled away from the wall on one side.

“No.”

Their eyes met and Jim swore his heart stopped.

Bones lost his grip, the railing completely came off from the wall, he was falling away from him, his scream echoing as he went down and Jim’s whole world fell apart.

_”BONES!”_

…

The water was fast approaching, Christ was it fast approaching, but he had to do it. It was the only way, ironic as it was the guy who didn’t believe in no-win scenarios forcing the plane down. 

Actually, that sentence needs to be revised. 

It was ironic that the guy who hadn’t, until yesterday, believed in no-win scenarios. It all went out the window on that god damn train.

At least New York and all the other cities the bombs on the plane were destined for weren’t going to make it to their final destinations. 

The plane hit the water hard, the glass shattering, frigid water rushing in to fill the cavernous space quickly. It wouldn’t be long now, he could already feel his limbs going numb, feel his lungs freezing with the water he’d inhaled, could feel as his heart began to slow.

It didn’t matter, he was doing the right thing, and he was saving those cities, all those people. His final thought before it all faded into the cold darkness was that at least he’ll get to see Bones.


End file.
